A Real Cliff Hanger

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

I know that it is the stuff of which exciting novels, movies and television serials are made—just think Agatha Christie or Dan Brown or any of the Oceans or Mission Impossible films—but I still find myself somewhat let down and disappointed when a season ends with serious unresolved issues. Most lately, it was with season ten of ‘Death in Paradise’. I must confess that I was disappointed that there was no definite resolution to the on again, off again, ‘almost’ relationship between DI Neville Parker and Detective Sargent Florence Cassell. Our interest in seeing the outcome of this was such that we simply couldn’t leave the program up in the air, and so we watched the final two episodes back to back, meaning a much later night than usual. But alas, our viewing was in vain in terms of any resolution to the above mention ‘love-match’. We will have to wait for season eleven, or perhaps twelve!

But that kind of cliff hanger action, that dynamic tension, that unresolved situation, is something that the Scriptures major in. So often we are simply left hanging, wondering just what will happen down the road and never being told for sure. Thus the Rich Young Ruler of Matthew 19:16-22 and Mark 10:17-27 went away unhappy, disappointed. He had sincerely wanted to know the answers to his questions about the meaning and purpose of life, but it never happened, at least not in the present narrative. To find what he was looking for he needed to give up all, and then come and follow Jesus. However, his riches got in the way. We are left hanging as to what happened next.

And with the Parable of the two Lost Sons, commonly known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son, again we never find out just what happened thereafter. How did the wayward younger son adjust to being loved and forgiven in such a full and dramatic fashion? (Surely it was something very new, and very unexpected for him). And how did he fit in to the rigours and humdrum existence of being home again after the wild and unpredictable life of his ‘far-off country’? Did he actually live up to the promise and become an entirely new person?

And, what about the elder son? Did he ever get over being such a self-righteous, conceited prig? Did he ever warm up, whether to his brother or his father? Did he even learn to forgive and turn over a new leaf in his relationship with his brother, or his father? Did he ever see his father’s point about what he’d been missing out on all these years, and become a new person in light of this?

There are a number of examples in the Scriptures where we do know the before and the after, with Nicodemus and Simon Peter and Paul of Tarsus for instance, but usually we never know. We are left hanging.

I happen to think that this is not accidental; that the story is left ‘hanging’, we are left hanging, on purpose. Our desire for resolution, for closure, throws us mentally, emotionally, into those very situations. We are left asking ourselves whether we, like the Rich Young Ruler, sometimes allow ‘things’ to get in the way, to impinge upon our ability and willingness to follow Jesus.

And, we are forced to see ourselves as the younger brother, as folks who have been ‘bought with a price’ (the Father’s humiliation and agony in this case) and welcomed back, welcomed back home. We have to ask ourselves whether we realize this, take it to heart, and live accordingly?

And, like the elder brother, do we see, and enter into, the abundant, the amazing, grace of God, not just towards that ‘other’ brother, but also towards himself? And, do we begin to live this out in our lives and in our relationships?

And so we are left hanging, left with the outcome still uncertain, because, in reality the outcome is still ‘out there’, still unresolved, because its answer, its resolution, is entirely up to us. It is up to us to decide. Amen.